Ecuador

The Republic of Ecuador (1830-) is a unitary presidential constitutional republic located on the Equator in northern South America. Its capital is the city of Quito.

History
Ecuador was originally a province of the Inca Empire, but on 6 December 1534, Spanish explorers under Diego de Almagro built the city of Santiago de Quito. The Quitus were crushed, but Incan general Ruminahui led a revolt and destroyed Quito with his army. However, in the Battle of Mount Chimborazo, General Sebastian de Belalcazar defeated Ruminahui and had him executed on 25 June 1535. In 1563 it joined the Viceroyalty of Peru, and it was Christianized and repopulated with white Spanish.

In 1809, when Spain was overrun with French troops, her colonies in the Americas declared their independence. At the 1822 Battle of Pichincha, the Ecuadorians were liberated from Spanish rule by Antonio Jose de Sucre, but Ecuador was made a part of Gran Colombia to the north after the Spanish were forced out of the Americas in 1826. Ecuador declared independence in 1830 and became their own nation, and they took part in the many undocumented wars between the South American countries from the 1830s to 1900s.

In 2008, Ecuador rewrote their constitution.

Culture
Ecuador is made up of 15,223,680 people (71.9% Mestizos, 7.4% Montubios, 7.2% Afroecuadorian, 7% Indian, 6.1% White, and .4% others). They are governed by the National Assembly, and Ecuador is a republic, similar to the United States - their currency is the US dollar. Meat (chorizo, fish, shrimp, etc.), potatoes, and rice consist of the main food sources of Ecuador.